Tag: Global
Life – Now alternating between 1998 and the 9 September 2001
Major Amin on Pan-Islamism and Afghanistan, etc
Of historical interest. An old letter to the editor that Major Amin wrote in 2001 before 9-11 happened. At the end I have also added an excerpt from his book (written in 2012) about the grand American strategic failure in Afghanistan.
Letter to the Editor, from Major Amin (in response to some story about Chechens and our Islamic duty to help them).
The Afghanistan analogy is not applicable to Chechnya. TheRussians withdrew from Afghanistan not because they weremilitarily defeated but because Gorbachev rightly assessed thatstaying on was not cost effective (Pages-207 & 208- Out ofAfghanistan-Cordovez and Harrison-Oxford-1995). Chechnya is analtogether different case because Russian presence there is costeffective because of Chechen oil! The political situation in Russia isonce again stabilising. The Communists are once again regainingstrength while Putin is likely to emerge as a strong statesman. Noamount of statements from the OIC can change the situation. If theRussians are ignoring the OSCE and USA why should they botherabout OIC! Why should Iran surrounded by three hostile or potentially hostile neighbours and one super power which every yearallocates funds to destabilise Iran antagonise the Russians ; theironly trustworthy ally!
Where is Islam in case of Kurds! How many Kurds have diedfighting Iranian Iraqi and Turkish armies since the last one hundredyears! I think ten times more than total number of Chechens killedfrom January 1999! Where is the Islam of the Islamic Contact Groupin case of Kurds who are condemned for eternity to be subjects ofIran, Iraq and Turkey. The first modern Chemical Warfare attackwas carried out against the Iraqi Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war!Where was Islam when genocide was committed in 1971 by aMuslim (a misconceived misnomer!) Army against the BengaliMuslims! Religion, ideology etc is nothing but cheap toolsemployed by the ruling elite to galvanise and drug the masses! Themiddle class and the feudal clique of UP and Punjab becameinterested in Muslim separatism only once their class interests werethreatened with competitive examinations and concepts of Britishdemocracy! The same was true for the Hindu middle and businessclasses that joined the congress! They thought that they would
succeed the British Viceroys in ruling entire India! Hinduism wasonly a slogan, just as was the case with the Muslim elite! Religion isa good slogan but only a slogan! Democracy ends immediatelywhen Muslims leave the Mosque! Lip service is paid but that iswhere Islam ends!
It will be good for our intellectual health if we forget about PanIslamism and try to set our own house in order! So far we havemiserably failed even to stay as one nation in case of East Pakistan!Today we have the smaller ethnic group’s issue which is intricate aswell as genuine and demands good statesmanship which is sadlylacking both in India and Pakistan ! Both have been termed as ‘failedstates’ by political scientists ! Both have a history of using coercive power of a modern state against smaller ethnic groups e.g. Kashmir1989-2000, East Pakistan-1971 , Balochistan 1958-64, Balochistan1974-77 etc etc. Both the states have been steadily involved in anarms race that will end only once a war limited or total is finallyfought . A dispassionate study of history proves that men are butvictims of currents of history and cannot change the tide of history!Europe learned its lesson after two world wars and is saner ! Chinalearned its lesson from 1911-1949 and is now saner ! UnfortunatelyPakistan and India have fought small wars ; petty skirmishes bywestern standards in which total casualties of each side was less than10,000 killed. That is why both have hawks; theoretical hawks Iwould say; arm chair strategists; Don Quixote’s who think thatKashmir can we won (Pakistan) or retained (India)! The motivationof the ruling elite on both sides is ulterior! Its not ideology Islam orsecularism but ego, powers, lusts for glory! Bismarck’s does not leadthem or Churchill’s but myopic men with limited vision, short-termgoals and personal agendas advised by dark horse adventistintelligence agencies! Sundarji called them blind men of Hindustan ;a better name may be ‘Blind men of Hind-o-Pak’! These are
shortsighted men who have not understood what General Shermansaid at Atlanta after the US Civil War i.e. ‘there are many a boyshere who think of war as glory, but it is hell!’ As a soldier I wish that both the countries should either fight it out so that we at leastdiscover (I would say rediscover or confirm as far as ex soldiers areconcerned!) The qualitative efficiency of our general officers orarrive at a settlement! Otherwise it’s a never-ending game of musicalchairs, which the ruling elite of both the countries is making thecommon man play! The qualities of generalship and mediocrity inhigher ranks on both sides have been well proved in 1947-48, 1965and 1971! 2000 if it proves decisive will inshaallah prove as noexception.
And lastly Pan Islamism is dangerous . It is better if we concentrateon setting our own house in order.
Major A.H Amin(Retired)
An excerpt from Major Amin’s book:
The Mullah who was at the lowest rung of the society was elevated and the traditional leaders of Pashtun society eliminated and destroyed. Basically the Pakistani leadership likethe usurper Zia comprised of men with humble origins preferred pliable Afghans withhumble origins who would obey the third rate ISI major again from lower middle classhumble origins.
Afghan resistance in Pakistan was thus led by Panjsheri puncturemen previously repairingtyres in Kabul , obscure and humble Mullahs like Haqqani and failed engineering universitydropouts with no tribal standing like Hekmatyar. It suited the Pakistanis and their Americanfathers to deal with non entities who could be moulded and manipulated.The Americans were funding people like Zia who was selling eggs to survive with 250 and400 milion dollars annually. It is a white lie to think that the Americans stepped in after theDecember 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.US and British assistance to the bastardchild Zia military regime started in 1978 and early 1979. The Pakistanis and Americansbrought all types of mad dog Islamists to Pakistan for the so called Afghan Jihad.Nowpeople like Bruce Riedel are blaming and attacking the same characters patronized by theUS in 1980s as Al Qaeda and Islamic extremists. Islamist volunteers were brought by theISI,CIA and Saudi GID to Pakistan because the Afghan mercenaries enlisted by the ISI werenot fighting as ruthlessly as their ISI handlers wanted them to fight. It is ironic that IslamicJihad was transformed into a global cause under CIA stewardship. Characters like HafizSeed , today topping the US hate list were groomed and gained prominence during the CIA-ISIGID Afghan war. HAMAS was established in 1987 with Abdullah Azzam as one of itsideals.
After 1989 Jihad in Afghanistan degraded into a Pakistani version of Jihad. The JihadsAmerican fathers had abandoned Jihad in 1989 after the Soviet withdrawal. The Iraq war of1991 was a watershed event. From 1991 Afghan war assumed a more Pakistani and Saudishape. Mujahideen were increasingly patronized and were replaced with Taliban who weremore rabidly Islamist Pakistani Saudi proxies.Again from the lowest and humblest sectionsof AfghanPashtun society.Men who would readily obey their ISI handlers without anydissent. Pakistans civilian prime minister Nawaz Sharif was an ISI creation and a man withlimited vision.The other civilian prime minister Benazir Bhutto was a subject of ISI blackmail thanks tosome scandalous material gathered by the ISI cheap operatives in the Zia era. BenazirBhuttos handpicked Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar was spiritual Godfather of the maddog Islamist Talibans in Afghanistan.
Benazir Bhutto had no control on Pakistans intelligence in both her tenures and the ISIdid as it pleased in Afghanistan and India.A sad reflection on a supposed secular andeducated prime minister who claimed that she was the best guarantee against Islamicextremism in the region. Hafiz Saeed now much hated by the CIA grew in stature inBenazirs two tenures as prime minister ! It is hilarious when one reads about Benazirsclaims as the wests best bet against Islamic extremism in her last book !
When the Americans ditched the ISI after 1989 , the ISI found a new patron in theKashmir Jihad in shape of China. The Chinese feared that an independent Kashmir would bea US base against China and had decided in late 1980s to support Kashmiri separatists whowanted accession with Pakistan.
The period 1988-2000 was the golden period of ISIs Kashmir War. Ex DG ISI LTG Ziauddinnarrated to this scribe that Pakistan Army regulars and ISI regulars were fully involved inthe Kashmir Jihad and participated in deep penetration raids in Indian Occupied Kashmir.Meanwhile the 8 years of Bill Clinton in the USA from 1992 to 2000 were a total foreignpolicy disaster and during these 8 years the US had literally no Afghan policy. MonicaLewinsky no doubt was a high priority for Bill Clinton. While Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaedatrained and regrouped in Afghanistan the Americans were just sleeping .But now theiranalysts like Riedel brand Pakistan as worlds most dangerous country. It is an ISI and CIAachievement that characters like Mulla Omar became Afghanistans key leaders.Humble menwith no political status were elevated to Afghanistans power brokers just because they weregood sons of some ISI major commanding an ISI detachment ! This is history ! Charismaand power comes when a man sells his soul and works for some one.No tribute to MullaOmars personality.The very word Mulla signifies a mans lowest social status in Pashtunsociety. A large part of what analysts like Riedel now define as Islamic terrorism wascreated by the CIA in its notorious partnership with ISI and CIA in 1980-90. While the USabandoned Afghanistan and Pakistan in the period 1990-2001 , the Pakistani ISI sawAfghanistan as a giant training camp to train ISI proxies for the war in Indian occupiedKashmir.Thus the rise of the Taliban from 1994 to 2001. American policy makers weresimply sleeping during this period and today the Americans are simply paying the price fortheir naive complacency.
A.H Amin
Browncast: Major Amin on the Ukraine Crisis
Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!
In this episode I talk to our regular guest, Major Amin. Major sahib has a long association with Afghanistan and with Russia and as a fan of military history is a huge admirer of the country that brought us such earth shat operation Uranus and
00:00.00
Omar
Hello good evening, everyone and welcome to a new episode of the brown pundits browncast we have with us again today major a mean well known to our listeners. We have chatted with major amin before. About various topics related to military history and history in general and we are very lucky to have him again with us on this historic day when the russian federation has launched a major military operation against Ukraine. Mayor I mean has a long association in the region has been closely associated with has worked in Afghanistan has been worked a lot with the Soviet Union and then later with the russians so it’s very familiar with this whole. But the people involved in this business so we will start by asking him. Yeah, amaze up. What is your assessment what is going on in Ukraine right now. Ah Dr what has happened is that. Geopolitically there are 2 camps 1 camp as defined by a very eminent geopolitical erist professor van pigeon. From the netherlands teaching at susex university he defined 2 major contenders in geopolitics one is the atlantic name led by the Usa and basically Neto and one is the vast. Asian Heartland the euro asian greatest power foreign history which we call Russia so this power revelry is going on and has not ended. And as you know I will just give you in a short ah capsulated view that the ah atlantic grim at that time the western allies they made the Ussr fight the germans and the ussr suffered. 90% casualties in the second world war but the major ah geopolitical benefits were reved by the attack technique that by the Usa and with the charttle known as Britain at that time a charttle whose back was broken by the car first and by Hitler.
02:42.55
Omar
So the main of course player with the usa now we start with the cold war as soon as the and british and the american achieved their objectives they threw Russians The Uss are into the dustbin of. And geopolitics like Icondo and it was the most heartless betrayal and so-called cold war started and here I want to clarify to the apalridges and the so-called white version of history. But you find in very large numbers in University Like Yale Howard Berkeley Oxford Cambridge questions of intellectual dishonesty in all west european universities barring sussex and few universities now they started a false. The that they had waged the second world war based on ethics just imagine that eventually after second world war the americans the british and the late Nato which was formed adopted the same tazi philosophy of anti-reianism is. Slav batting and anti-communism and hidere the same nazis against the Ussr. So these things are very very clear to us. But till now the if you go to American University Or A British University or any best european university they are whitewashing this you know, ah claiming you know they are very you know they are very ethical people. They are very very they principal people which is total nonsenseensor and they are worse than the the deepest gutterent you know world. You know as far as intellectual honesty is concerned now coming to Ukraine state. But the uss are what resolved there was agreement between the atlantic them and the russians that Nato is not going to expand eastwards but the western allies they violated this principle this ah unwritten promise and they you know. Got the whole warsaback countries barring and maybe 1 or 2 into the Neto. So this was a dangerous enc encourageachment on the shia and Ukraine now which you know is the is the backyard of the russians ah most strategically important to russians. Last you know, um the the biggest brand of the americans and network comment was trying to bring network and this Ukraine into network. So Naturallyri Putin had no choice left but to react react.
05:24.57
Omar
Ah, regarding my assessments of americans and Neto in scratches. How I form these opinions based being based on the Afghanistan town from 2002 till almost two ah 2021 and also having participated. Ah the subcontractor in the so-called. Disgraful evacuation mismanaged evaquation by natural americans the most disgraceful evaqui industry I saw the Nato and the american army closely me and I saw that they were strategically clueless operationally totally incompetent. Yes, brave at the load level. I don’t blame the younger ranks I don’t blame the union commanders but characters like Patrias Mcquiel and all these people they were totally incompetent people having seen them in Afghanistan and knew that these people they just cannot fight that was the most hopeless bunch. Look at the disgraful way the germans behaved in Afghanistan they oppos caveards that they will not fight in any area where there is one bullet fired in anger just see how disgraceful the turkish behaved all the natural countries how they behaved the presence of the casualties was suffered by the us army. The 95 % casualties and some british muskets also suffered casualties but you know the only power which foughtd in Afghanistan alreadylthough they also suffered 2000 puny casualties and in 20 years hardly a war for the americans so based on this assessment. Ah I was very clear. Putin is going to have a clean run and is going to knock out Ukraine and this is the dividing line. This is a watershed in history in geopolitical history as you know it was a long time ago that a book was written and of the west. This now sir is the decline of the west juility. Thank you? So um, what do you think is happening operationally right now what was Putin’s plan and just sort of in military terms. What is he doing and what is it likely to what is likely to happen in the coming days. Ah, Putin’s plan was very simple and the russians had been wargaming it since the last um 10 years basically Ukraine. Is indefensible because the ukrainian Heartland Ki and harkov they are very close to the russian border so they are indefensible. So kif and Harco are a gone gone case in oppressa the main new UraPort russians have landed.
08:05.76
Omar
And it’s a matter of time. The russians are going to mop up and naturally they have to totally crush Ukraine and brutal. You know they have to over and it ruthlessly you know because you know they must not give the Atlantic Rem who are the successor of the tragedy Germany you know. Na Germany gave birth to the nato 1945 so this is there. They are the new nazis and the russianians as you know 19% sacrifice in Second World War against nazis and fascism all done by the Ussr not by Britain or Usa or any of these. Bike Mouse Miskeier so I think he’s going to over and Ukraine is going to consolidate and it is a good thing and I think if he place his cards carefully ah ce submitting the alliances with China with Iran even with countries like Pakistan. Ah. Already. He’s controlling the vast mass of the eurationian heartland as becon defined it and these Mickey Mouse characters on on the on the peripher these people who never fought of war whose women are not ready to produce children when there is minus grew growth decades people you know. Important cheap labours from turkey and ktan and from North Africa and from Syria these hopeless totally you know decadent west europeans they have no right to leave the word as per aggressive we can I am sure many listeners will argue. Or against these positions but just in terms of ah, the military capability. Do you think the ukrainian army is going to put up any fight at all. Ah Ukrainian um, the only. Ah. Thing you will find in Ukraine and is a Ukrainian proitutkrain and an army is totally useless in the hopeless bunch I have seen them very closely in Pakistan and trials and totally decadent hopeless bunch and not capable of putting any fight and. And they are the worst people you know as far as military effectiveness is concerned or ah, you know military virtues concerned totally hopeless enough. They have no military effectiveness. No military virtue and yeah, you’ll see that god willing our poses. Mr. Putin will have his day. Ah, okay, so if he does have his day and then they have conquer they reconquer or conquer all of Ukraine. Ah they will set up ah sort of a puppet ukrainian regime or they will incorporate it into Russia or what will be the next step and I think potan will.
10:58.81
Omar
Lay his cars carefully as the russians have always done. You know they will have some sort of a you know on the old style soviet ssr you know as they they were called. You know the soviet socialist republic you know something like that with a different name and naturally. Ukraine present Lee is a usa puppet Ukraine is not an independent country at all. It’s a usa ne puppet and now it will become a russian puppet so puppet say as far as the puppet is concerned only the masters of the prophetpe ukraine is a policy of a state it’s not a state you know it’s a it’s a po it is a fairly large country and it’s very likely that a majority of the population may not want to be ruled by Russians as far as I see I visited Ukraine in Ninety five and ninety six as far as I see. Statistics and the sensors are cooked up and my impression was that almost half of Ukraine is russian number one. The second impression is that Ukraine is culturally economically logistically politically so close to Russia that it was hard to call it a country. Ah, as you know in second world War Stalin was able to gain a vote for Belaria and Ukraine and that is how this fiction was created but culturally politically. It is very you know. Naive to say that Ukraine is a has been a separate country yes separatism has been there. The russian civil war also they were Ukraine and separatists but Ukraine is so close to Russia geographically politically historically that I would not call it a separate country. So if you if as you say they are going to militarily they’re not going to have a problem they are going to sort of brush them aside and establish. Whatever puppet regime they want in in Ukraine once they have done that do you think they have other objectives. Beyond ukraine at this time. Ah, suddenly yeah, they will you know, bring back. Ah, the older republics put the fold geor has been creating a lot of problem affecting Georgia needs to be. You know, given a proper dose Azerbaijan yes, also playing. Between Israel and americans and you know so many people azerbaja um, certainly yes central asia is fully in their control. So no problem Poland yes Poland they are going to you know, sort of given them a minor rubbing you know which is not difficult so I think geopolitically.
13:50.26
Omar
This will be the start of the dissolution and the collapse of Netu as an alliance as far as I see netto is not totally irrelevant already. They have proved. They were totally hopeless in Afghanistan hopeless people and now I would say this is the end of Neto is is a. A matter of time that you know we you know ah a can the founder of Neto A we you know they should be buried in a very deep gutter. They don’t deserve a funeral. If you are saying they want other republics back does that mean also the Baltic Republics Estonia latvia Lithuania they will not attack the baltic republics but you know they are going to apply apply other cosive I just. You know, sort of you know, arms them to you know, sort of reduce them to their size because birthex republics you know again traditionally but part of Russia. It is very hard to say that they are separate countries. They were literally a part of Russia for more than you know, ah starting from the time of p the great. Hundred nine or so these republics were part of Russia and I think Mr put will be a wise man if he sort of armed to them rather than directly attacking them and directly attacking is not possible because they are part of Netu and. As far as I see and as far as I can assess nato is going to be you know dead within a year or two I think this alliance is not going to survive this fisco in Ukraine and Neto does not deserve to exist because they have proved totally useless. You know. Hiring hiring blondes andpronettes and ah buts. You know for their lust. You know, but totally hopeless people. You know if you go to the ne headquarters in Brussels you’ll find blondes and bruettes you know that’s about all but ne is militarily completely hopeless now the other. People on the other side will say that actually Neto will sort of revive because of this because the threat of the russian bear will sort of bring them back to their senses or or that even that they will expand that maybe Sweden will join neto as short as I see. Was a very famous book written by russian author gogo which was titled dead souls as far as I see europe is dead soldier with minus growth with you know women saying that our figures will be spoiled if we have children.
16:36.66
Omar
And you know a decadeant civilization and importing all kinds of characters. You know from Syria North Africa and you know East Europe you know Europe is dead you know it is very difficult that ne can be ever revived because their de people basically I saw them I saw ne and Afghanistan closed. Were protect people. They did not have that burning desire to fight. They did not have that you know that spirit that resolution which is required to fight even a third rate you know country with Peggy Trousers you know they could not even fight those of paths you know they were imposing caviars. They were hurting in kundul they were hiding in bajis. They were hiding in Kabul totally hopeless if you study the natural casualties in Afghanistan you will have to agree that Uto was a total failure in Afghanistan and Ricky Mouse western european new nazi power who could not fight in Afghanistan how can they fight and look how can they face Russia if they could not face the aghans were militarily farfer to Russia. How can they to face the russians. But you also included Poland in those who are going to be chastised Poland is a serious country. They have a history they have ah identity and they are as proud sort of of their polish identity and freedom as as the russians are of Russia you think they will just hold on. And again is ah also a fiction because you know, starting from 1770 s and 80 S Poland was a part of Russia and Germany and there was no poland for a short time after the french revolution the Poland was created but that also was a total you know french spawn. And Poland was not really a country if the revolution had not broken out of Russia in 1917 they would have been no poland so Poland again is ah very close to Russia and Russia cannot afford to have american or natural duke nuclear wars in and Poland. Poland is also hardly a country I would say I would not call Poland a country Germany yes is a country Sweden yes is a country even Finland was part of Russia, not a country and great period after the you know after after after the first world war. So all these historical things have to be seen russian history is very complicated and the ah rather myopic people in Brussels and Pentagon and bunching burglars and having blondes and brunus around. They did not study russian history probably if they had studied russian history probably they would
19:22.00
Omar
Not have suffered this massive classicco and tobacco in Ukraine. But if you are you know as you are saying if Russia is such a strong power with such a strong asabia. What do they fear from Poland why is it a big deal if Poland is in Nato what will they do to them. It’s a question of dominance. It’s a question of geopolitics and how can you answer the biggest question history. What the great powers want for what they have been fighting to study the first world war second world war they have their childish games what is dominance what is power what is the lust for power. These are questions difficult to answer brother. So. But other than that lust for power or whatever there doesn’t seem to be like a rational reason why they should fear Poland Latvia Sweden if they leave them alone. They will probably be left alone by these people. They will not bother rashia. Traditionally the burtex republics were part of Russia and when the Soviet Union on disintegreted they became independent so traditionally the russians regard the russian establishment regards I don’t regard my this is my impression of the russian establishment when i. Occupation of Russia Ninety five ninety six the russian establishment regards the british publics as their lost provincevincis and they don’t regard them as the country if letto collapses and neto it becomes inoperational. Even now it is hardly operational. You know except you know, ah playing pushy games that who is not capable of anything you know and except you know talking about hollow threads and bluffs. Ummartonian Bluffs you know why much suddenly you know was a british prime minister famous for bluff and the russians called but is Amerson’s bluff in 1863 when the there was a polishris palmersan said that Britain will you know do this and that and russians simply marched to Poland and palmusson was nowhere. And Parmason was only good in siu pushing the sister of the british minister or the wife of some other british count or lord a minister that it was all parmusan was voted just like the Nato characters in bruss no but towns and prunettes. That’s all.
21:58.39
Omar
Right? But the british had the largest empire in the world after all, they had some military capability to back it up. They could not when when russian forces the March into Poland in 63 Britain did not oppos the the nations and all the british threats came yeah thrown into the gutter. Because it was a but sodian bluff if you study the european history you will find that there’s a very famous ah section on on the parsonian bluff and all but the british are masters of bluff. They hardly fought any war or if you study the british history let’s say let’s go back to british history to study british history. British never fought a major war in europethey always financed Russia pressure austro-hungary to fight against Napoleon in the first world war. Yes, the british were forced to fight a war and what happened the British Army totally was yet not destroyed. In the battle of Ees and in the first battles of first world war. It was totally destroyed and the british bag was broken after first world war Britain never fought, a major war. They were always made others fight and shape as the case with americans they have never fought a major war but the royal navy that is the last major war americans. But the civil war after that americans are made um the european powers fight especially the russians and if you study the casualties the russian casualties were the highest in first world war and in second world and even against Napoleon it was the russians who broke the back of Napo Napoleon um ah but Atroer or anybody you don’t want any depressions. You don’t want to give any credit to the royal navy after all they they maintain dominance all across the globe for 200 years yes I give royal the navy full credit but as far as the land war is concerned. land warfare the british strategy was that to finance the you know the european armies and the as far as the land warfare was concerned if decisive victories like lii like you know in moshco if the sassiveies were achieved in 1812 1813 and 14 in which the russians and the prussians played the major role. The British Army had no road Waterloo was they you know was a sideline battle when Napoleon’s defeat was a forone conclusion even if Napoleon had won at whattleloo he would have been defeated because whole europe and mobilized. Ah, huge russian army was coming depressions were there the austrohung erran was there so british as far as the land warfare concerned they are nowhere very they were never they were never go on land warfare and the last major battles they fought was in first world war in which you know, um, their back was broken.
24:49.91
Omar
Is all you know indians you know board independence you know first and second world war because 2 great men at Kaer William to and adollf hitler they broke the back of grit it was not Mr Gandhi or jiha or any character who gave and india freedom it was Hitler. That some that many people might agree with but anyway what is the what is the equation between China and Russia right now China and the shia have to come close. They already are Joe Political clothes but now the currents of history. The the pressure of geopolitics will force these 2 giants to come together and if they don’t come together. There is no survival. But I think chinese are very clear and they are going to play the cards correctly and you will see a major. Ah. Shana Rahia lands and of course russiahi after all this you know they will have to turn eastward you know it will always isiatic country and now Russia is going to become more asiatic for will survival the joeo political survival and I think ah. Ah, China rahia alliance in a major way. The the fourgo rule as far as but you kind of when you say that the western europeans are decadent and will not be able to do anything. They have a low fertility rate fertility rate is not much higher in Russia either. Now Russia’s original population is much bigger than west europe that you have to see their real population. Their actual population is much bigger. They they have got a far larger army landmas and all that all these things have to be seen my question to you is that if netto was so. Marshal them such a great power why they was you know so beak and covered in Afghanistan what was there? no zero two why Why us and had to fight the whole of 1 war and was not willing to fight if ne was not willing to fight in a third grade environment like Afghanistan where they had. Massive superiority massive superiority of laws had nothing and yet this narrow this hopeless network was a total failure and um understand if we to you told team if you study the operations will find that ne one was the I would say the height of cowardice. As far as the real battle was concerned in Afghanistan they fight they did not fight they did not fight well the british other than the british I guess nobody fought, really the americans did the bulk of the fighting but did a more an 80% of the fighting right? British yes were there but you know british casualties are much smaller right? I mean.
27:39.80
Omar
But um, but but wanted but somebody could argue that in Afghanistan they were you know this was really a mission of that american mission in which they are just showing the flag and going there are they are not really interested in this mission but when they are defending Poland or let we are whatever they are closer to home. Ah, is not like is maybe a different situation. You don’t think that that’s going to be a consideration law. You see your you have to see your cortex from a very wide angle and probably you have to take a long view if you study the cold war the Ussr collapsed not because of neto but because of the so. Ah, the oil price havinging to 50% which but broke the bag of ussr thatto never broke the back of Ussr great. All we saw the so the hoving of the oil eto has never been a credible player you see letto help and you know, ah, how can. Ah, on earth can you say that Nato had a peaceful mission you see that was ah Usa it was Usa who created Neto and created the Usa who saved western europe from Ussr Usa is the benefactor of western europe and how ungrateful. And I see these west europeans net over in a Afghanistan far their behavior in any way cannot be justified job take me morally militarily in any way. So this is ah I don’t agree with this both respectfully but now the total failure in Afghanistan right? So let’s say the western in europeans. No longer have the jews or whatever. ah but the United States still a significant power ah is there is the you feel that the United States itself is no longer capable of confronting any of these people or Russia. No United States had imposed a very very well-p planned you know, strategy on western europe that they will be part of the us camp there will be us satellites now. The danger is that with Russia emerging victorious in Ukraine. And now this strategic you know that dominance of the Usa may be challenged and even power like Germany and you know even central european powers part of Netu will think twice about being part of neu and they will sort of have have some sort of engagement with russians you know. Because it’s ah it’s power play. You know it was a sheer military power with which the uss are an over Nay Germany and it was shier and military power overall military power that the americans used to reconr western european.
30:24.17
Omar
But that you know scenario has changed the americans are not willing to sacrifice 23 veterans have are been have been committing suicides since 9090 and over 200000 us veterans have committed suicide. It’s an internally shattered society and. It is not the same usa the same us say who was brutally willing to kill and fight the certain world war is just totally different game and cor war. They did very well even in Vietnam they sacrificed 60000 but now it’s a totally different bulk of game a decadent society not willing to fight. Certainly. Usa may go for some sort sort of isolation some sort of you know, going back to the north and south american continent something like that till first for what they were like that they you know and they were practicing as so asulliationism and all that right? So they may revert back to that. But you know they they have lost faith. Also let me tell you that the americans have lost faith in network because Neto has proved so hopeless first in Afghanistan and now in Ukraine that americans have lost faith him and you know the fear of the fear of nuclear war you know that of course you know. Americans but are so afraid of nuclear weapons that that they could not even coerce a ah thirdly country like Pakistan because of fear of nuclear weapons this fear of nuclear weapons has also altered geopolitics and now you know. Major power forms. Want to fight a war you know, even Ukraine if you study Ukraine’s newss but taken by the russians when the us are collapsed. So even ah, you know it was lack of nuclear weapons that Russia invaed Ukraine. Just imagine America has never invaed any power which has nuclear weapons. You know they are very very brave and marshal if there is iraqi or afghans you know were no new Yorks but you know as far as Pakistan is concerned they were covered in the aran war. Although although 90% of the us soldiers 2200 killed and Afghanistan were killed by insurgents based in Pakistan but Usa like the strategic resolution of moral courage to confront Pakistan so nuclear weapon weapons are also a very important part and western europe or Usa simply cannot start a conventional war and the bottom line is that. Puttan also invaded Ukraine because Ukraine had no news if Ukraine had its nukes or if they had retained the nukes stationed in Ukraine at the time of Visa Putin could never have invaded Ukraine. So all these things have to be also taken in the context of the nuclear weapons. So is it.
33:12.96
Omar
Possible that in the coming years countries like Germany maybe even Sweden that they will try to develop own nuclear weapons. Ah Germany certainly will them up but there’s a major power and Germany as far as I see germany or. Ah, the west european countries they may they may like to form a sort of a european ah lands primarily to protect western europe yes, that is possible and german they certainly is a you but you know, um you you will see that. Um. a european alliance can emerge out of this because ne has by by and large become redirected to America has failed to provide the leadership. Basically the the the big dog in Neto was America and the big dog will proved a miserable failure as far as saving Ukraine or as far as defending Ukraine muslims. So the big dog has failed so now the small dogs might decide that they must get together and make another lance and that alliance can protect western europe from being bullied by Putin or whatever western europe certainly has new books. As yeah as but as you know the France and other powers they have Nukes Britain as nukes so they can always form and former european alliance the the the bottom line are the news western europe certainly has the nukes to counter Putin and Putin also like a Usa is very careful but he you know. Carefully calculated and invaded Ukraine knowing fully well that Ukraine had no nuclear data so western europe putin is not going to touch because yes, yes, politically you know Gepolily is you know on the rise. Certainly if you play this cards carefully and. You know as mchelley has said that it is better to act and regret battle rather than not to act and regret so putin is going to act and in action lies his survival. So Ukraine has to be fully. You know, pacified and aa and that certainly he will do. Will go for a China ah lands major lens and the survival of both China and Russia lives now in being a plants you know in me being allies, you know as you know the and very famous american leaders said that. If we don’t hang together. We’ll be hang separate so they don’t want to get hanged and so they will come very close but is as this confrontation sort of goes on. There is going to be like a cold war kind of situation that there will be ah.
35:59.63
Omar
These b blocks will sort of have sanctions economic differences even separate banking system internet whatever or there will be simple cooperation between western europe and Russia then what? What do you foresee? ah. As far as I understand Rasha and China are working on a separate bank system and it’s not a very big deal. It’s a matter of fine matter of maybe two or three years that you will see a rival banking system already as you see the bitcoin and. So also many these digital currencies they have changed the ball game and already the banks are very Vari because the digital currencies you know are are a big threat to the bank and if you study carefully all the russian and iranian and chinese code operations are run on. But but on the digital currency and it’s a known thing even I’ve won insurgents were getting and getting a aid with you know, digital currency vi Dubai during the us have one war. So the whole ball game exchange yes certainty arrival to short will be created. And yes, certainly if the weapon camps will be there right? So when and if that happens in this situation. I mean this world was economically relatively integrated until a couple of years ago ah this separation and cold war kind of situation. Obviously will lead to economic disruption. Also you see the world was never integrated. The Usa had very very strong protective tariffs western europe had very very strong protective tariffs and they regarded the as and then africans as you know as third grade. You know man manyial colonies were was never integrated economic. Yes, they were claiming that you know w to you and all sort of you know facades. You know the jargons and you know false claims that we are integrated what was never integrated as it has always been the biased place. Protectionism has always been there and is going to stay and certainly you know, um, the the so-called great powers. You know the the english-speaking people basically the foundation of their greatness was piracy. Was not in trade or anything. It was piracy selling opm and you know so many things you know, but it’s a long history. So you know, let’s stick to the basics and I think I have summed up my you know my assessments if you want to ask any question please. Ah.
38:44.73
Omar
Ask me 1 last question. 1 last question is do you think that this will also mean China taking Taiwan ah China taking Taiwan is ah just a matter of time and maybe China takes Taiwan in the next one year next five years a matter of time Taiwan is a gone case and the Usa already has proved its irresolution and incompetence and its strategic meekness in Afghanistan by just deserting Afghanistan instead of placing some forces there the partitioning the country and again in Ukraine. Ah, americans have proved their total strategic meekness. So this is ah going to be a big encouragement to China and Thiwa and is a gone case. Maybe one year five years you know but thwa certainly America also will not be able to defend because again fear of continued war Europe nuclear war is dead and. Unless unless ah unless taiwa develops its own use and decides to wipe out the eurochina communist as a state. You know it’s a it’s a difficult thing if if Taiwan does not have news which it does not have. Is a matter of time that you know is what what do you foresee? There are a couple of countries that have there are not necessarily permanent american allies but their own situation sort of forces them on the american side right now one is India and the other is Japan. Are significant powers. Ah what is their future in this new world Japan you see Japan received such a druming from the chinese who infected the maximum casualties in Japan and second world war maximum casualties on Japan were in fact. But chinese second world war and then japanese got such a traumatic shock with these 2 2 nuclear strikes that japanese also you know strategically and they are totally hopeless. You yes, there are a lot of talk that there was Ziam and all that. Yeah. But japanese have lost that you know lost that spread of crucial japanese war or the wars in China or in the second world war they are totally you know I would I would again call them decade you japanese they are not. You know, serious players. And indian as you know are as hopeless as pakistanis to totally third powers. Both of them. So don’t expect anything good from indians you know they’re as hopeless as pakistanis same race know same you know da for race. You know you don’t expect things. It is on that note.
41:35.17
Omar
I’m sure many of our listeners will have their own sort of opinions about this but I know that they all look forward to hearing about your opinion and and it is always stimulating even if people disagree with you. So thank you very much sir and we will be in touch we will in shalla do more podcasts. As things develop and we will process in within a Div thank you congress thank you so thank you you
Greco-Roman Perceptions of the Iranic Peoples (And India): A Cross-Cultural Breakdown
The Skyborne Castes
Power, Race, and the Architecture of Global Inequality
I pulled down my last piece owing to a a streak of bad luck. I was on verge of being denied boarding owing to the airline’s administrative error. At any rate once I got over that hurdle, the experience made me reflective again. Transiting through Cairo, an even harder metaphor hit me:
The world isn’t a battleground, a marketplace, or even a village. It’s a plane. A giant 300-seater Airbus. Maybe even a cruise ship in the sky (imagine a sky ship of sorts). Always moving. Never arriving. Continue reading The Skyborne Castes
What is Trump doing?
https://x.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1960453324026863834
he’s claiming 7 jets down |
he’s mimicking the Indian accent (no no no) |
he’s claiming Indo-Pak tensions are centuries old (alluding to the Hindu Muslim divide) |
he’s claiming credit for the resolution of the May conflict |
Meltdown Bhāṣya: Verse 1.1.1 (Part 1.2)
Technocapital Singularity & A Brief History of Capitalism, Commoditization & Production, and Primordial Desire
Originally Published: January 26, 2025
[1].[1].[1] The story goes like this: Earth is captured by a technocapital singularity as renaissance rationalitization and oceanic navigation lock into commoditization take-off.
Perhaps the other most important factor that contributed to the rise of modern Capitalist Modernity is actually a confluence of several sub-factors: the development of the printing press, the mass-enletterment of Western European societies, the many efforts made to translate the Christian Bible from Latin to European vernaculars, and the upswell in Protestant Christian cults and sects which cracked apart the oneness of Western Christendom. It is easy to see how Burroughs may have have come up with an idea of language being akin to a viral infection, as well as how Land landed upon an image of technocapital virality.
Commoditization & Production
One of the weightiest influences on Nick Land’s thought, especially during his days in the Ccru, was the French duo of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who were just beginning to be translated into English during his time at Warwick University, where Land was a professor of philosophy. Deleuze, a philosopher, and Guattari, a psychoanalyst who worked at the La Borde Clinic (which was run by a disciple of Lacan), came together in the aftermath of the failed student-worker protests of May 1968, wherein the the French government, headed by de Gaulle, came together with its chief rival, the French Communist Party, to prevent a populist uprising by the aforementioned alliance (Smith, Protevi, & Voss, 2023).
Their thoughts weigh heavy on the work of Land as As Mackay and Brassier explain in the ‘Editors’ Introduction’ of Fanged Noumena (Land, 2012):
“Fuelled by disgust at the more stupefying inanities of academic orthodoxy and looking to expectorate the vestigial theological superstitions afflicting mainstream post-Kantianism, Land seized upon Deleuze-Guattari’s transcendental materialism – years before its predictable institutional neutering – and subjected it to ruthless cybernetic streamlining, excising all vestiges of Bergsonian vitalism to reveal a deviant and explicitly thanatropic machinism. The results of this reconstructive surgery provide the most illuminating but perhaps also the most disturbing distillation of what Deleuze called ‘transcendental empiricism’. In Land’s work, this becomes the watchword for an experimental praxis oriented entirely towards contact with the unknown. Land sought out this exteriority, the impersonal and anonymous chaos of absolute time, as fervently as he believed Kantianism and Hegelianism, along with their contemporary heirs, deconstruction and critical theory, were striving to keep it out.” (p. 5)
Production is one of the key topics of the first chapter of Anti-Oedipus (Deleuze & Guattari, 1972/1977), perhaps the most well-known of the pair’s works. In the first chapter, ‘The Desiring Machines’, production is defined as a process which has three elements:
1)It incorporates “recording and consumption within production itself, thus making them productions of one and the same process” (p. 4).
2)It makes “no distinction between man and nature: human essence of nature and the natural essence of man become one within nature in the form of production or industry, just as they do within the life of man as a species…man and nature are not like two opposite terms confronting each other — not even in the sense of bipolar opposites within a relationship of causation, ideation, or expression (cause and effect, subject and object, etc.); rather, they are one and the same essential reality, the producer-product” (p. 4-5)
3) And lastly, “it must not be viewed as a goal or an end in itself, nor must it be confused with an infinite perpetuation of itself.” (p. 5)
A forced prolongation of the process, however, is considered by D&G to be tantamount to bringing it to an abrupt & premature end, which leads to the kind of “artificial” schizophrenia found in mental hospitals (p. 5). The schizophrenic is described as the universal producer with no distinction between producing and product (and thus, a rejection of “renaissance rationalization”, or humanistic reason itself).
Commoditization could thus be seen as a cycle of production-consumption pushed to its utmost extremes, wherein the drive to produce requires the consumption of ever-increasing stores of capital — material, social, cultural, and spiritual — thereby corrupting the social or ethnic body (see Dugin) from within like a festering tumour sent into cancerous overdrive.
In short, taking the Landian Singularity to be a merely destructivephenomenon (or rather, noumenon) — at least as that word would normally be understood — would be a gross simplification. What the Singularity does is achieved through the intensification of the production process which, rather than outright destroy, corrodes, corrupts, and consumes the cultural substrate upon which it preys, like a predatory elite — like a vampire (cf. “lesbian vampirism”, Meltdown). By accelerating the cycle of creation and consumption of commodities past the limits of human comprehension (initially, through such humnanistic media such as marketing, advertisements, and entertainment), technocapital ever more quickly approaches the point at which demand is wholly manufactured and the capacity to decide has been lifted out of the hands of humanity1.
As regards the usage of the term by D&G, schizophrenia could be considered something akin to an a priori platonic form of which mundane clinical schizophrenia is but an imperfect reflection. This view of perfect forms becoming manifest as stunted and twisted reflections in the unstable surface of the lake of matter is not entirely out of line with Hindu metaphysical understandings of the relation between the spiritual world (first, boundless, & unchanging) and the material one (secondary, bounded, & ever-changing), though, of course the French duo would likely reject a transcendental realm of forms distinct from the immanent.
Primordial Desire
This brings us to the thought which one could say lays at the very heart of Anti-Oedipus: desire. In this text, Deleuze and Guattari argue against the “idealist principle that defines desire as a lack” of the real object, instead positing desire as “a process of production, of ‘industrial” production” (1972/1977, p. 26). Their reasoning is threefold. First, if desire really is tantamount to a lack then it depends on an ‘essence of lack’ in order to produce the “fantasized object”2 (p. 25). Secondly, for desire to be a symptom of lack, it would necessitate that the world is fundamentally incomplete, thereby requiring the existence of a second, doubled world which contains the object being lacked. Thirdly, they reject the idea that desire is something which arises out of needs.
On the contrary, D&G argue that the “objective being of desire is the Real in and of itself” (p. 26-27) and what desire lacks is not the object but the subject.
More specifically, D&G talk about ‘desiring-production’, synthesizing the psychoanalytic work of Freud and the economics of Marx to develop a new system of thought. As Smith, Protevi, & Voss (2023) summarize in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Gilles Deleuze:
“Passing to the conceptual structure of the book [Anti-Oedipus], the key term of Anti-Oedipus is “desiring-production,” which crisscrosses Marx and Freud, putting desire in the eco-social realm of production and production in the unconscious realm of desire. Rather than attempting to synthesize Marx and Freud in the usual way, that is, by a reductionist strategy that either (1) operates in favor of Freud, by positing that the libidinal investment of social figures and patterns requires sublimating an original investment in family figures and patterns, or (2) operates in favor of Marx by positing neuroses and psychoses as mere super-structural by-products of unjust social structures, Deleuze and Guattari will call desiring-production a “universal primary process” underlying the seemingly separate natural, social and psychological realms. Desiring-production is thus not anthropocentric; it is the very heart of the world. Besides its universal scope, we need to realize two things about desiring-production right away: (1) there is no subject that lies behind the production, that performs the production; and (2) the “desire” in desiring-production is not oriented to making up a lack, but is purely positive. Desiring-production is autonomous, self-constituting, and creative: it is the natura naturans of Spinoza or the will-to-power of Nietzsche.”
An interesting proposition to be sure, but how are we to understand it from the Hindu perspective?
Kāmapuruṣa
The word subject has two meanings that are of great weight to us. Both of them can be covered by a single Sanskrit term, puruṣa, which, like its English counterpart, has several connotations across various fields. The first of these meanings is the grammatical, which inevitably leads one to ask the question: who is it that desires? According to D&G (1972/1977), desire lacks a fixed subject, being instead “the set of passive syntheses that engineer partial objects, flows, and bodies, and that function as units of production.” (p. 26). They believe that both desire and the object of desire are machines (we will unpack this term later) hooked up to one another leading to production being deducted from the production of production (the process of desiring-production in which producing is always ‘grafted onto’ the product); that is to say, between the act of producing and the product, something detaches, “thus giving the vagabond, nomad subject a residuum.” (p. 26). Without a fixed subject, desire is something which can be experienced by all beings and which, in the deleuzoguattarian sense at least, appears to have a liberating function which frees men from restrictions. Of course, we must keep in mind that Landian Accelerationism does not bother itself with such humanistic concerns.
The second meaning of puruṣa with which we must concern ourselves is the philosophical and theological one. It can be used to refer both to the individual ātman (Self) as well as the Eldmost Man of the Puruṣa Sūktam3 (RV 10.90), who can only be identified as Śrīman Nārāyaṇa (Sundar, 1995), or Viṣṇu — that is to say, God Himself (Bhagavān).
What, one may ask, is the relationship between desire and God?
For this, we must turn to myth, where the primordiality of desire is attested to, both Hellenistic and Hindu. Hesiod’s Theogony (Evelyn-White, 1914), one of the key sources for Greek myths of creation, states:
“Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.” (116-122, p. 87)
After this, Eros causes the other gods to pair off, and through their unions, people the cosmos with all the races known to the Greeks: gods, titans, giants, and mortals.
Another important source of Hellenistic beliefs on the origins of desire is the Orphic tradition. According to Orphic theogony, the union of Chronos (‘Time’) and Ananke (‘Necessity’, ‘Fate’) in the primordial abyss, filled with nothing but water and earth, brought forth a silver egg surrounded by a serpent, from which Phanes (from ϕαίνω, “to bring to light, bring into sight, make to appear, in physical sense…to shew forth, make known, reveal, close”; Liddell & Scott, 1883) appeared, separating Aether (‘day sky’) and Chaos (‘chasm’) from. He was called First-born (Prōtogónos) and identified with Eros (among other deities, like Dionysus, Zeus, and Pan). Chronos was also known as Aion. In this form he was commonly depicted holding the wheel of the zodiac, together with his spouse, the Earth Mother (Gaia), and their four children, the seasons. Statues of a winged, lion-headed figure, wrapped by a serpent, found in Roman mithraea have also been identified with Aion4.
Why is this of significance? Because we can see the very same connections made out in the Vedic context as well. Much of what has been said about desire in the Hellenic sources is not unlike the Hindu understanding of the same, right down to the association of Eros with another primordial, transcendent, and radiant deity.
Kāma is the Hindu counterpart of Eros, and just like his Greek twin’s, his name denotes both a God of love and the abstract concept of desire. Just as eros is meant to orient man towards God according to Plato, kāma is one of the four goals of human life (puruṣārthas) meant to lead one to liberation (mokṣa) from death and rebirth.
The primordiality of kāma is attested to in the Vedas, and especially in the Nāsadīya Sūktam (RV 10.129), which is an important source to understand the Vedic cosmogony. Many of the same themes and motifs as the Orphic theogony can be found in the first four verses of this hymn:
“The non-existent was not, the existent was not; then the world was not, nor the firmament, nor that which is above (the firmament). How could there be any investing envelope, and where? Of what (could there be) felicity? How (could there be) the deep unfathomable water?
Death was not nor at that period immortality, there was no indication of day or night; THAT ONE unbreathed upon breathed of his own strength, other than THAT there was nothing else whatever.
There was darkness covered by darkness in the beginning, all this (world) was undistinguishable water; that empty united (world) which was covered by a mere nothing, was produced through the power of austerity [tapas5].
In the beginning there was desire [kāma], which was the first seed of mind; sages having meditated in their hearts have discovered by their wisdom the connexion of the existent with the non-existent.” (RV 10.129.1-4)
The Nāsadīya Sūktam is stated to be addressed specifically to to the devatā Prajāpati Parameṣṭhī. The Nārāyaṇīya6 (a text within the larger Mahābhārata) tells us is Brahmā-deva, the creator of the material world (MB 12.326.17).
Here, we shall have to hearken unto the third meaning of ‘subject’ with which we shall concern ourselves: the bond of a subordinate to a ruler. In Sanskrit, this is expressed through the word prajā, which, among other things, means precisely that. But it is not enough to content ourself with a shallow understanding such as this — it is needful that we think deeply upon the other meanings of this word as they have a great bearing upon this work. Prajā can also mean precisely the same thing as its cognate, progeny. The master of said progeny (or ‘creatures’) is thus called a progenitor, a prajāpati (‘lord of the people or creatures’, from pati, ’husband’ but also meaning ‘master’ or ‘sovereign’ at the end of a compound word).
Aside from being an oft-used proper name for the Hindu demiurge, a broad overview of our texts, on the other hand, tells us that prajāpati has also been used as a title to refer to those beings who can be thought of as fathers or progenitors of the cosmos. A list of twenty-one Prajāpatis in the Mahābhārata includes both Śrī Brahmā, several of his sons (such as Dakṣa, most famously), and Rudra, among other Devas and Ṛṣis. Oddly enough, there is one major deity clearly missing from these lists: Śrī Viṣṇu7.
This is a rather odd omission, given His connection to fertility and virility, which, as the blogger at mAnasa-taraMgiNI points out in his post ‘A note on Śrī, Viṣṇu and śṛṅgāra’ (Feb. 27, 2022), is an ancient one, stretching back into the Vedas (RV 1.164.36, 10.184.1) where He is also associated there with multiple mother goddesses (janitrīḥ, RV 3.54.14). Even the epics associate Him with manly vigour and fatherhood. In the Vedas and Purāṇas, He is associated with Bhū-devī (Goddess Earth) in His Varāha-avatāra, as a result of His having lifted her up out of the primordial cosmic waters. In the Bhagavad Gītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, refers to Himself as the “seed-giving father” of the cosmos (bīja pradah pitā, BG 14.4), and, in a more literal sense, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is also the father of the reincarnated Deva of Desire, Kāma. When his body was burnt to ashes by the fire spat out by Mahādeva’s third eye, he became Ananga, the Bodiless One. Later, he was took birth among the Vṛṣṇis of Dvārakā as Pradyumna, the Most Mighty, son of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, akin to whom he was said to look in all respects.
There is, however, another Pradyumna is spoken of and glorifed in the Mahābhārata and the writings of the Pāñcarātra Saṁhitā, a body of work which stands out as among the oldest witnesses of Vaiṣṇava thought and worship of Śrī Viṣṇu. They speak of his place among the caturvyūhas — the ‘four-fold forms’ of Hari who create, maintain, and destroy the material world, protect devotees, and make steadfast Dharma: Vāsudeva, Saṁkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. Some texts say that Pradyumna is also associated with the mind (MB 12.326.39; 12.332.15) as kāma is in the Nāsadīya Sūktam (RV 10.129.4). In the Nārāyaṇīya, Bhīṣma, the great elder and renunciate hero of the kingly Kuru bloodline tells of how the great sage Śrī Nārada (one of the most renowned devotees of Hari) came face-to-face with the manifold form of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa in all His glory and splendour (MB 12.326.1-14). It was at this meeting that the Lord taught His worshipper the truth of the worlds:
“This Eternal I, coming into manifestation, become established in the firmament. Then at the end of a thousand eons (yugas), I will withdraw the universe again, absorbing into my Self all beings—both moveable and immovable.
As singular Being I will wander with knowledge, O best of the twice-born, and then I will create the entire universe again with the aid of knowledge.
My fourth form, which created the undecaying remainder, that itself is called Saṁkarṣaṇa who further gave birth to Pradyumna.
I am Aniruddha, [born] of Pradyumna. And my creation occurs again and again. Then from Aniruddha is born Brahmā, whose origin is there in the primeval lotus.” (MB 12.326.66-69).
Brahmā-deva is also known as Hiraṇyagarbha since he was born from the Golden Egg or Golden Embryo atop the lotus growing from the navel of Śrī Mahāviṣṇu, who lays atop his serpentine bed, drifting upon the causal sea. The Hiraṇyagarbha Sūktam (RV 10.121) tells us more about this enigmatic byname. That Hiraṇyagarbha generally refers to Brahmā-deva can be inferred from the fact that nine of the ten ṛks (verses) in this sūktam end with the refrain “kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema”: let us offer worship with an oblation to the divine Ka. Sāyaṇa-ācārya’s commentary on the first ṛk of this text cites, among other works, the Nirukta of Yāska (perhaps the oldest extant work on etymology) to support this claim. Similarly, Śrīman Nārāyaṇa in the Mahābhārata also tells Nārada-ṛṣi: “Hiraṇyagarbha, preceptor of the world, the four-faced one who can be understood through etymology (niruktaga), the immortal god Brahmā reflects on my pluripotent [nature].” (MB 12.326.47). The hymn further says that “When the vast waters overspread the universe containing the germ [garbhaṁ] and giving birth to Agni, then was produced the one breath of the gods” (RV 10.121.7), and that he “who is the parent of the earth, or who the unerring support (of the world) begat the heaven, and who generated the vast and delightful waters” (RV 10.121.8). The commentary of Sāyaṇa-ācārya says that “the germ of the world, Brahmā” was said by Manu to come from “yat, tataḥ: from that (cause)”, while the waters refer to Mankind. Turning to the Manusmṛti, we can understand what the ācārya was pointing to:
“This (World) was in existence in the form, as it were, of dense Darkness,—unperceived, undifferentiated, incogitable, (hence) incognizable; as it was wholly merged in deep sleep.
Thereafter, the supreme being Hiraṇyagarbha*, self-born, unmanifest and bringing into view this (universe), appeared,—dispelling darkness and having his (creative) power operating upon the Elemental Substances and other things.
He,—who is apprehended beyond the senses, who is subtile, unmanifest and eternal, absorbed in all created things and inconceivable,—appeared by himself.
Desiring to create the several kinds of created things, he, in the beginning, by mere willing, produced, out of his own body, Water; and in that he threw the seed.
That became the golden egg, resplendent like the Sun; in that (egg) he (Hiraṇyagarbha) himself was born as Brahmā, the ‘Grand-father’ of the whole world.
Water is called ‘nara,’—water being the offspring of nara; since water was the first thing created by (or, the original residence of) that being, he is, on that account, described as ‘nārāyaṇa.’
That which is the cause—unmanifest, eternal and partaking of the nature of the existent and the non-existent,—the being produced by that (cause) is described among people as ‘brahmā.’
That supreme lord, having dwelt in that egg for a year, himself, by his own thought, broke that egg into two parts.
Out of those two pieces (of the egg) he formed Heaven and Earth, and, between them, the Ākāśa, the eight quarters and the eternal receptacle of water.” (MS 1.5-13)
In effect, this the same account as the one given in the Puruṣa Sūktam when it states: “From him was born Virāt. and from Virāt. Puruṣa; he, as soon as born, became manifested, and afterwards (created) the earth (and) then corporeal forms.” (RV 10.90.5). Virāj means something akin to “The Wide-Shining One”, a clear parallel to Hiraṇyagarbha, and puruṣa has near enough the same meaning as nara.
Here we finally have the key to begin understanding Eros and Kāma. The name of Phanes is cognate with Bhānuḥ (one of the thousand names of Śrī Viṣṇu in the Viṣṇu Sahasranāmam) and thus akin to the Vedic names Virāj and Hiraṇyagarbha. By holding up the Hellenic and Hindu sources beside one another, we can see that a shining son who shares in the characteristics of his father, a supreme being who rules over time itself, the first-born of the cosmos aroused by desire, splits apart the cosmic egg into two halves, laying down the space needed for the world as we know it to come into being.
He is also, however, linked to the end of all that is. The Mahābhārata says that it is into Pradyumna that all beings merge at the time of pralaya8 (MB 12.326.36). In a certain sense then, one could say that both the birth and death of all material worlds, beings, and associated phenomena are thereby united in Desire.
1. Ironically, this should signal that contemporary efforts towards AI alignment are likely to be futile, because any “AI” that can be aligned (towards humanitarian ends) is not a true Artificial Intelligence in the Landian sense. The true Abominable Intelligence lurking behind the Faustian IMPulse is just that: an imp — a malevolent spirit or an evil god. And neither a god nor a fiend can be contained through secular means.↩
2. Fantasy (along with superstitions and hallucinations) being an example of the Kantian reinforcement of the idealistic definition of desire, which for Kant can only produce psychic realities. As we noted in the Introduction, the Ccru, of which Land was a member, posited the phenomenon of hyperstition (a portmanteau of ‘hyper’ and ‘superstition’, in which objectively fictional or fantastical forces and figures have a way of making themselves real by infecting or invading the minds of the living in the present-day, present-time world through means such as literature and entertainment. One example of this might be Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (mentioned later on by Land in this text), which launched in 1983 and was intended to avoid mutually assured destruction between American and Soviet nuclear exchanges by developing experimental new weaponry that seemed right out of science fiction, leading to opponents of the program and/or the president to dub it the “Star Wars program”, which was picked up by the media and used to shape public opinion against it, eventually leading to it coming to be known by that moniker popularly.↩
3. A sūktam is a Vedic hymn or panegyric dedicated to one or more deities, composed in a specific verse, and attributed to a specific Ṛṣi (Seer) to whom it was revealed or bequeathed. Some of the more popularly recited sūktams include the aforementioned Puruṣa Sūktam, the Nārāyaṇa Sūktam, the Śrī Sūktam, and the Durgā Sūktam. Another famous one is the Nāsadīya Sūktam.↩
4. Though likely unrelated to the lion-headed form of the Lord (as it may have reflected the fourth degree of Mithraic initiation, Leo, which was associated with thunderbolts and Jove, much like Phanes), this figure is, nevertheless, strikingly similar to Śrī Narasiṁha Bhagavān in appearance. These statues have also been identified with the Iranic deity of time, Zurvan (Skt. Sarva, ‘All’; another name of Śrī Viṣṇu in the Viṣṇu Sahasranāmam).↩
5. The word tapas appears here as a neuter noun stemming from the root √tap (‘to heat, be hot, suffer pain, practice austerities’). When used with reference to humans, it can mean ascetic practices, self-mortification, austerities, meditation, or literal heat in the form of the five fires an ascetic might surround himself with on all sides in order to intensify his askesis, with the fifth taking the form of the summer sun above. Sāyaṇa-ācārya’s commentary on this verse clarifies the usage of the word, saying that “Austerity: tapas = not penance, but the contemplation of things which were to be created: yahsarvajñaḥ sarvavit yasya jñānamayam tapaḥ: Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.9”. Thus, in this context, tapas seems to indicate a mystic heat that leads to the ‘production of desire’ to borrow a Deleuzoguattarian phrase.↩
6. “The Nārāyaṇīya or “(the work containing) everything about Nārāyaṇa” (or “(the work) promulgated by Nārāyaṇa”[1]) is a small text of 1006 verses occurring in the Śāntiparvan of the Mahābhārata.[2] The name of this text, which is found consistently in the manuscript colophons, is possibly derived from verses 12.326.100–101 of the text: “This great Upaniṣad, perfectly consonant with the four Vedas, nourished with Sāṁkhya and Yoga is sung by Nārāyaṇa and designated Pañcarātra by Him, dear one. Nārada told this again in Brahmā’s dwelling exactly as was seen and heard [on Śvetadvīpa].”[3] The Nārāyaṇīya, then, would be the knowledge[4] concerning Nārāyaṇa or the knowledge uttered by Nārāyaṇīya (concerning himself). The principal aim of the Nārāyaṇīya is the glorification of the God Hari-Nārāyaṇa, who is described as the God of gods (devadeva, 12.325.4[1]), the Creator (prajāpati, 12.325.4[18]), the Supreme Soul (paramātma), and the supreme Brahman. The text unfolds a monistic ontology that explains how the One Being, though remaining distinct from and transcending all beings, nonetheless is the indwelling Self of all beings (antarātmā bhūtāna, 12.321.28), the knower of the field (kṣetrajña, 12.321.28) and the allpervading witness (sarvagataḥ sākṣī, 12.326.21). Nārāyaṇa is described as the goal not only of all sacrifices and rites but also of austerities and the different philosophical systems of Sāṁkhya, Yoga, and Pañcarātra (12.330.29–31, 12.337.59–68). The text, however, recommends devotion (bhakti, 12.321.41 and 323.48) or onepointed focus (ekāntitvam, 12.321.42 and 323.49) as the best means for attaining Him.” (Adluri, 2018, p. xi-xii) “The Nārāyaṇīya occurs in the Śāntiparvan, the twelfth major book of the Mahābhārata. The Śāntiparvan contains three sections: the Rājadharmaparvan (on the law of kingship), the Āpaddharmaparvan (on the law of emergencies) and the Mokṣadharmaparvan (on the praxis of salvation). The Nārāyaṇīya appears in the last of these sections and marks the culmination of the epic’s cosmological, soteriological, and literary program. The immediate context of the Nārāyaṇīya is an extended dialogue between the fallen Kuru patriarch Bhīṣma and the victorious king Yudhiṣṭhira regarding the various forms of dharma.[18] It includes the divine sage Nārada’s visit to the mystical island Śvetadvīpa (or the “White Island”) where Nārāyaṇa reveals himself in his universal form (viśvarūpa, Mahābhārata 12.326.1c). The text is interesting as it provides not only a well-developed theology, but also philosophical discussions on ontology, cosmology, etymology, divinity, and ritual. A summary of the various descents of the One Being (ekaṁ puruṣaṁ, 12.326.31c) Nārāyaṇa into the cosmos can be found here[19]—a theme that is richly developed in later sectarian texts, the Purāṇas.” (Adluri, 2018, p. xv-xvi)↩
7. For the argument as to why Śrī Viṣṇu may be identified with Prajāpati read ‘The sixteen-fold Puruṣa’(June 16, 2024) by the blogger at mAnasa-taraMgiNI. The story of Śrī Śiva’s attack on the yajña of Prajāpati Dakṣa (one of the sons of Brahmā-deva) and subsequent pursuit of the Yajña-puruṣa (the embodied sacrificial rite) who escaped in the form of a stag, as told in the Harivaṁśa, is remarkably similar to the story told in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa about Rudra hunting Prajāpati. Lastly, Bhagavad Gītā 10.6 states that the seven Saptaṛṣis, the four Kumāras, and the fourteen Manus — twenty-five beings in total — are born from His mind and populate the world.↩
8. Pralaya is the periodic cosmic dissolution which takes place in between the incomprehensibly large timespans which contain the rise and fall of innumerable civilizations and species of life across the many worlds in this universe. href=”#ref8″>↩
Islam the religion of Peace
He also brokered the fragile ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia after deadly border clashes earlier this year – he stepped in after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on both sides if the fighting didn’t stop.
Some called it a diplomatic victory for Malaysia, while others said Anwar was simply in the right place at the right time – this year, it was the Malaysian PM’s turn to lead Asean.
Two Theravada Buddhist neighbours go to war over a Hindu Temple Complex and come to peace because of a Muslim & Christian President.
I know the Commentariat – Saffroniate are a bit miffed by my sudden change of tone; but as you can see I would be intellectually dishonest if I didn’t cover all sides of the story. This is where Dharmic civilisation, which is ordinarily peaceful, had to be *helped* by Abrahamic one.
On closer interrogation; I think when the Blog becomes dominantly “one-tone”, I then flip to ensure we maintain a parity of sorts.
Note to Authors
Most of our active Commentariat are Authors as well, and that overlap is exactly what makes this space work.
Please don’t worry about the length of your posts or whether you’re mainly sharing links. All I ask is that you include a line or two of context or commentary, however brief, when you do. It helps the discussion move forward and gives readers an entry point. I’ve been seeing some excellent conversations in the Open Threads, but many of you still seem hesitant to post directly. Don’t be!
It genuinely helps me when Authors share what they can, when they can. I’ll edit or follow up if something needs adjusting, but as you all know, I’m very much in favour of a broad church; no pun intended, considering my last piece was on the Church.